Fall Wreath

So, I really love Fall.  Even if things don't really change around here, the weather still becomes amazing and there are so many fun things to plan and do!  So, we don't have a whole lot of room to decorate for the holidays (and in general) so I wanted to at least make a wreath for our door.  So while I was browsing Pinterest, I was inspired by this:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2009/12/chrismas-paper-mache-ornaments.html

I loved the simplicity and the ability to make it all by being thrifty so I set out.  I grabbed a 1 dollar frame from Goodwill and waited until Michael's had a sale to get my fall foliage.  I don't have any pics of the beginning, but what I did to make my frame interesting and seasonal looking was I followed this crackle tutorial (found viz Pinterest as well):

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2010/05/crackle-finish-with-elmers-glue.html

It worked really well but I started off putting WAY too much glue on and since my frame has a slant, it would collect and I had to wipe it off and reapply it in areas that were drying too fast.  Next time I will probably buy a sponge brush to help make the glue spread better.  I used a dark brown base coat and a lighter orange-y color for the top (each of my own mixing) and I got this:

Not bad for my first try huh?

My crackle paint supplies (I used acrylic paints)

With the foliage I first unwrapped the base so I could snip them off there.

What I harvested. The extra grass was too green for what I wanted so I didn't use it.

My crackle paint technique wasn't flawless (the top of the frame wasn't that great) so I flipped the hanging mechanism so the top became the bottom and the bottom became the top (so I could hide the not so great parts with the foliage).

I pulled out all the pins that are used to hold the back of the frame in because I didn't want a back drop.

Rewired the wire to make my flip complete! :)

So I gathered up my foliage in a bundle formation that I liked and bound it together using brown thread.

It took my awhile to figure out how to attach it though.  At first I was thinking of doing it in the front and using a ribbon or something, but I felt that it was all to busy and that the ribbons were the wrong color.  So I nailed the bundle to the back of the frame and I really liked the effect.

Side view of the nail.

And there we go!  I kind feel like it needs a little bit more, so I am open to suggestions (ribbon? burlap? word message? pumpkin?) but I love how it has turned out so far!  Yay for my first try at being cool and crafty!  Love ya!

Behold the glory of Frankenfoot

Hey, you all have probably just been dying to see my stitches right?!! Well wait no more, cuz here they are:

This is just a couple of days after (like one or two)

Same day as above

I took this picture about a week after.  I wanted to see how the wound had changed.  And it has a bit, the skin has stuck back together almost completely (as you can see the left side is being a bit stubborn).

Well, thats all for now!  Next up time I want to show something I made recently (with a mini tutorial too!)

Midnight Adventure (and back from hiatus)

Hey everyone!  Sorry for not updating all summer!  Jared and I just worked cuz he wasn't qualified to get time off until August but then school started so we just got creative and had fun mini adventures.

But enough of that, I need to talk about our adventure last night in the ER.  Thats right, the ER.  But lets start at the very beginning, cuz you know, its a good place to start :P (note: all pics are from my cell so they arn't the clearest)

So in our shower there are little shelves that are just made out of a piece of tile.  So I was trying to move some of the conditioner around in its bottle and I ended up not thinking (I admit it) and I smacked the bottom of the bottle on the tile shelf and this is what happened:

And thats not all, because you see, my foot was under that large piece of tile and the tile won.

I didn't realize I was bleeding for a bit but when I did we hurried and got out of the shower and wrapped my foot in one of our towels.  We feel that the Lord really blessed us because, somehow we got the bleeding to stop quite quickly.  We got dressed as quickly and carefully as we could and ran out the door to Banner Desert's ER. (I had conditioner in my hair the whole time).

We got in pretty well enough (around 10:30), though we totally had a Brian Regan moment when we realized that the ER didn't have valet parking and I couldn't walk....it truly is one of the biggest oversights of our universe.  But all was ok, Jared just wished they had gone a bit faster because I had an open wound, but I felt that everyone was nice enough (especially after they gave me some Vicodin : D).  After around 45 min and a lot of information giving, we got back into a room.  During all this we felt so blessed again because one of my classmates from school is a ER tech and was there and we really feel that he helped speed things up for us.  So they took X-rays to make sure nothing was broken or severed.

After that my friend came in and asked how we were doing and if we had seen a doctor yet.  Since we hadn't he went and got some stuff he knew they would be using (saline and a suture kit) and he went and got  the PA on the floor.  She was really nice and numbed my cut (which hurt but was way worth it) and then explored it a bit to make sure again nothing was severed or really injured.  There was some white tissue exposed but is was just the covering of the muscle, not a tendon so she then left and my classmate (Ben) used a liter of saline and cleaned my cut.

 Sorry if I gross you out...

I really realized when he was cleaning it, how lucky we were to get it to stop bleeding as fast as we did.  He estimated it to be 2-3cm deep (about an inch).  After he finished cleaning the PA came back in and stitched me up.  I got two catgut stitches inside (catgut is biodegradable so they will dissolve after 5ish days) and 5 outside.  The stitches hurt cuz my skin wasn't really numb but it I didn't want to get stuck with a needle again (they already had done it twice) to get stuck with another needle so I just toughed it out and it wasn't so bad.  

Ben then came in and wrapped me up and after getting my prescriptions for pain meds and antibiotics we were gone!  And it was only 1 o'clock!  Yay!  

 The end result (forgot to take stitch picks)

The towel we wrapped my foot in.  Luckily not too much blood, eh?

We got home and in bed around 2 and Jared (bless his heart) got up at 7 to go to work.  I slept alright but in the morning my foot was so sensitive it felt like it was burning.  My lovely Mom came right over and got my meds for me and took me over to her house cuz I almost fainted while she was at the pharmacy.  So here is sit.  Drugged up and on my bum.  

I am very thankful for the little blessings we were given, because we really feel lucky that we live close to a hospital, I didn't cut a tendon, I didn't bleed too much, and we had a friend in the right place.  We had a crazy night but don't worry, all is well.  All we have to do now, is be patient and tell the story of our midnight adventure.  Hope you enjoyed :)